YEAR in Review年度回顧: Pop Stop

Edison Chen (?夢洷) serves as a symbol of trends over the past year and, perhaps, what to expect in 2009. For those of you who have been living in outer space recently, some 1,300 explicit images were stolen from Chen＊s computer showing the star and at least half a dozen Hong Kong celebrities 〞 Gillian Chung (潝釔糽), Bobo Chan (?恅磏), Mandy Chen (?郤?), Cecilia Cheung (?啡皏) and Chiu Ching-yu (猣??), to name a few 〞 in various sexual poses and posted on the Internet. In the resulting ※sex scandal,§ Chen fled overseas amid moralizing by the media and authorities and rumors that he is on the triad＊s hit list (HK$500,000 for either hand). Predictably, the fallout of the scandal included Chen losing several endorsements and promising that he would step out of Hong Kong＊s entertainment industry forever.

If half a million Hong Kong dollars is the price for one of Chen＊s hands, in Taiwan the going rate for someone＊s life is NT$3 million. At least that was the sum disgraced entertainer Hung Chi-te (粹む肅) offered the family of a woman he killed in Kenting in February while driving under the influence. This marks a steep decline of NT$5 million compared to the previous year when Shino Lin (輿?鑠) paid the family of the victim she ran over while wasted behind the wheel. Blame it on the global economic downturn.

Actor Ethan Ruan＊s (??毞) virile member has done rather better by him despite his own propensity to flaunt it about the gossip rags. The long running saga of his rumbustious sexual marathons with the mysterious ※Joanna§ and his on-again, off-again relationship with ※official§ girlfriend Tiffany Hsu (偝洱撣) did nothing to reduce his pulling power, and the soap opera To Love You Is My Destiny (韜笢蛁隅扂?斕) in which he stars continued to achieve stellar ratings.

Pop Stop has also shown a good deal of interest in two of 2008＊s most high-profile weddings. The first was that of Terry Gou (廖怢?), head of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (?漆儕躇), and dancer Delia Tseng (崠黹?), which took place in August. Delia is something of a step down from former Gou marriage prospects, which have included the queens of the Chinese-language entertainment industry such as Carina Lau (?樁鍍), Rosamund Kwan (燊眳轅), and supermodel Lin Chi-ling (輿祩鍍), but as Tseng is nicknamed Doggy (僩僩), she may well have qualities that even Next magazine has avoided speculating about.

Former Gou prospect Lau decided that good looks and charm beat a bulging pocket book and settled for heartthrob Tony Leung Chiu Wai (褽陳?). The couple were also married in August at a ceremony in Bhutan from which the press where rigorously kept at telephoto length.

Lau＊s best friend Faye Wong (卼滑) had less to celebrate this year. The Hong Kong media broke out into a rabid and somewhat tasteless frenzy when gossip rags reported in September that the pop chanteuse had miscarried what would have been her second child with husband Li Ya-peng (燠?齺). Some newspapers speculated that the 39-year-old Wong＊s ※advanced age§ might have contributed to the miscarriage or that it might actually have been an induced abortion after Wong＊s doctor discovered that the fetus had some sort of ※abnormality.§

Wong＊s manager Chen Jia-ying (?模踕), in a move no doubt designed to save her notoriously private client from more public mortification, hurriedly declared to the press that Wong＊s period had just been a little bit late. This was despite the fact that Chen herself had announced the pregnancy earlier.